''Cape Fear'' is a 1962 American
noir psychological thriller film starring
Gregory Peck
Eldred Gregory Peck (April 5, 1916 – June 12, 2003) was an American actor and one of the most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1970s. In 1999, the American Film Institute named Peck the 12th-greatest male star of Classic Hollywood C ...
,
Robert Mitchum, and
Polly Bergen
Polly Bergen (born Nellie Paulina Burgin; July 14, 1930 – September 20, 2014) was an American actress, singer, television host, writer and entrepreneur.
She won an Emmy Award in 1958 for her performance as Helen Morgan in '' The Helen ...
. It was adapted by
James R. Webb from the 1957 novel ''
The Executioners'' by
John D. MacDonald
John Dann MacDonald (July 24, 1916December 28, 1986) was an American writer of novels and short stories. He is known for his thrillers.
MacDonald was a prolific author of crime and suspense novels, many set in his adopted home of Florida. On ...
. The picture was directed by
J. Lee Thompson
John Lee Thompson (1 August 1914 – 30 August 2002) was a British film director, active in London and Hollywood, best known for award-winning films such as '' Woman in a Dressing Gown'', ''Ice Cold in Alex'' and '' The Guns of Navarone'' along ...
from
storyboards
A storyboard is a graphic organizer that consists of illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of Previsualization, pre-visualizing a film, motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence. The storyb ...
devised by original director
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featur ...
and released on April 12, 1962. The film concerns an attorney whose family is stalked by a criminal he helped to send to jail. The supporting cast features
Martin Balsam
Martin Henry Balsam (November 4, 1919 – February 13, 1996) was an American actor. He had a prolific career in character roles in film, in theatre, and on television. An early member of the Actors Studio, he began his career on the New Y ...
,
Telly Savalas
Aristotelis "Telly" Savalas (January 21, 1922 – January 22, 1994) was an American actor and singer whose career spanned four decades. Noted for his bald head and deep, resonant voice, he is perhaps best known for portraying Lt. Theo Kojak on th ...
and
Barrie Chase
Barrie Chase (born October 20, 1933) is an American actress and dancer.
Early life
Born in Kings Point, New York, Chase began formal dance lessons at age three, studying with the New York City Opera's ballet mistress. She studied ballet, first ...
.
''Cape Fear'' was
remade in 1991 by
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of many major accolades, inclu ...
. Peck, Mitchum, and Balsam all appeared as different characters in the remake.
[Kirsten Thompson, ''Cape Fear'' and Trembling: Familial Dread; In ''Literature and Film: A Guide to the Theory and Practice of Film Adaptation'', Edited by Robert Stam, Alessandra Raengo, Blackwell Publishing, 2005, ISBN 0631230556 (pp.126-147)]
Plot
In
Southeast Georgia,
Max Cady
Max Cady is a fictional character and the primary antagonist of the John D. MacDonald novel '' The Executioners''. He was portrayed by Robert Mitchum in '' Cape Fear'' and Robert De Niro in Martin Scorsese's remake.
Character overview
In both ...
is released from prison after serving an eight-year sentence for
rape. He promptly tracks down Sam Bowden, a lawyer whom he holds personally responsible for his conviction because Sam interrupted his attack and testified against him. Cady begins to stalk and subtly threaten Bowden's family. He kills the Bowden family dog, though Sam cannot prove Cady did it. A friend of Bowden, Police Chief Mark Dutton, attempts to intervene on Bowden's behalf, but he cannot prove Cady guilty of any crime.
Bowden hires
private detective Charlie Sievers. Cady brutally rapes a young woman, Diane Taylor, when he brings her home, but neither the private eye nor Bowden can persuade her to testify. Bowden hires three men to beat up Cady and coerce him to leave town, but the plan backfires when Cady gets the better of all three. Cady's lawyer vows to have Bowden
disbarred.
Afraid for his wife Peggy and 14-year-old daughter Nancy, Bowden takes them to their houseboat in the
Cape Fear region
Cape Fear is a coastal plain and Tidewater region of North Carolina centered about the city of Wilmington. The region takes its name from the adjacent Cape Fear headland, as does the Cape Fear River which flows through the region and empties ...
of
North Carolina. In an attempt to trick Cady, Bowden makes it seem as though he has gone to
Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
. He fully expects Cady to follow his wife and daughter, and he plans on killing Cady to end the battle. On a dark night, Bowden and local deputy Kersek hide in the swamp nearby, but Cady realizes that Kersek is there and drowns him, leaving no evidence of a struggle. Eluding Bowden and setting the houseboat adrift down current, Cady first attacks Mrs. Bowden on the boat, causing Bowden to go to her rescue. Meanwhile, Cady swims back to shore to attack Nancy. Bowden realizes what has happened, and also swims ashore.
The two men engage in a final fight on the riverbank. Bowden manages to reach his gun, which he had dropped, and shoots Cady, wounding and disabling him. Cady tells Bowden, "Finish the job", but Bowden decides to do the thing that Cady earlier told him would be unbearableput him in prison for the rest of his life, to "count the years, the months, the hours". In the morning light, the Bowden family are together on a boat, traveling with police back to port.
Cast
*
Gregory Peck
Eldred Gregory Peck (April 5, 1916 – June 12, 2003) was an American actor and one of the most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1970s. In 1999, the American Film Institute named Peck the 12th-greatest male star of Classic Hollywood C ...
as Sam Bowden
*
Robert Mitchum as
Max Cady
Max Cady is a fictional character and the primary antagonist of the John D. MacDonald novel '' The Executioners''. He was portrayed by Robert Mitchum in '' Cape Fear'' and Robert De Niro in Martin Scorsese's remake.
Character overview
In both ...
*
Polly Bergen
Polly Bergen (born Nellie Paulina Burgin; July 14, 1930 – September 20, 2014) was an American actress, singer, television host, writer and entrepreneur.
She won an Emmy Award in 1958 for her performance as Helen Morgan in '' The Helen ...
as Peggy Bowden
*
Lori Martin as Nancy Bowden
*
Martin Balsam
Martin Henry Balsam (November 4, 1919 – February 13, 1996) was an American actor. He had a prolific career in character roles in film, in theatre, and on television. An early member of the Actors Studio, he began his career on the New Y ...
as Mark Dutton
*
Jack Kruschen
Jacob "Jack" Kruschen (March 20, 1922 – April 2, 2002) was a Canadian character actor who worked primarily in American film, television and radio. Kruschen was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Dr. ...
as Dave Grafton
*
Telly Savalas
Aristotelis "Telly" Savalas (January 21, 1922 – January 22, 1994) was an American actor and singer whose career spanned four decades. Noted for his bald head and deep, resonant voice, he is perhaps best known for portraying Lt. Theo Kojak on th ...
as Charlie Sievers
*
Barrie Chase
Barrie Chase (born October 20, 1933) is an American actress and dancer.
Early life
Born in Kings Point, New York, Chase began formal dance lessons at age three, studying with the New York City Opera's ballet mistress. She studied ballet, first ...
as Diane Taylor
In addition,
Edward Platt
Edward Cuthbert Platt (February 14, 1916 – March 19, 1974) was an American actor best known for his portrayal of the Chief in the 1965–70 NBC/CBS television series: ''Get Smart''. With his deep voice and mature appearance, he played an ...
, the future "
Chief
Chief may refer to:
Title or rank
Military and law enforcement
* Chief master sergeant, the ninth, and highest, enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force
* Chief of police, the head of a police department
* Chief of the bo ...
" on the television series ''
Get Smart'', and November 1958
''Playboy'' Playmate centerfold
Joan Staley
Joan Staley (born Joan Lynette McConchie; May 20, 1940 – November 24, 2019) was an American actress and model.
Early life
Staley was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the daughter of James and Jean McConchie. Her father was a minister, a ...
make brief appearances as a judge and a waitress, respectively.
Development
Cornel Wilde
Cornel Wilde (born Kornél Lajos Weisz; October 13, 1912 – October 16, 1989) was a Hungarian-American actor and filmmaker.
Wilde's acting career began in 1935, when he made his debut on Broadway. In 1936 he began making small, uncredited ap ...
acquired the rights to John D. MacDonald's novel ''The Executioners'' for $30,000 in 1958. Gregory Peck had his own production company, Melville Productions, in partnership with
Sy Bartlett
Sidney "Sy" Bartlett (born Sacha Baraniev; July 10, 1900 – May 29, 1978) was a Ukrainian American author and screenwriter/producer of Hollywood films.
Early life
Sy Bartlett was born on July 10, 1900 in the Black Sea seaport of Mykolaiv in th ...
, which had made ''
The Big Country
''The Big Country'' is a 1958 American epic Western film directed by William Wyler, starring Gregory Peck, Jean Simmons, Carroll Baker, Charlton Heston, and Burl Ives. The supporting cast features Charles Bickford and Chuck Connors. Filmed ...
'' and ''
Pork Chop Hill'' and they later purchased the rights. They planned to make it after ''
The Guns of Navarone''. Peck was impressed by J. Lee Thompson's work on that film and hired him for ''Cape Fear''. Peck said his goal was to make "first class professional entertainment intelligently done."
Casting
Telly Savalas was screen tested for the role, but later played private eye Charlie Sievers.
Robert Mitchum refused to play Max Cady when he was first offered the part, but eventually accepted it after Peck and Thompson delivered him flowers and a case of bourbon.
Thompson wanted
Hayley Mills
Hayley Catherine Rose Vivien Mills (born 18 April 1946) is an English actress. The daughter of Sir John Mills and Mary Hayley Bell, and younger sister of actress Juliet Mills, she began her acting career as a child and was hailed as a promisin ...
, whom he had cast in ''
Tiger Bay'', to play the daughter, but Mills was unavailable.
Polly Bergen signed in December 1960. It was her first film in eight years.
Filming
Principal photography of ''Cape Fear'' began on April 6 and ended in June 1961. Thompson envisioned the film in black and white, believing that shooting the film in color would lessen the atmosphere. As an
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featur ...
fan, he wanted to have
Hitchcockian
Hitchcockian films are those made by various filmmakers, with the styles and themes similar to those of Alfred Hitchcock.
Characteristics
Elements considered Hitchcockian include:
*Climactic plot twist.
*The cool platinum blonde.
*The presence ...
elements in the film, such as unusual lighting angles, an eerie musical score, closeups, and subtle hints rather than graphic depictions of the violence Cady has in mind for the family. Hitchcock collaborators
Robert F. Boyle
Robert Francis Boyle (October 10, 1909 – August 1, 2010) was an American film art director and production designer.
Born in Los Angeles, Boyle trained as an architect, graduating from the University of Southern California (USC). When he lost ...
and
George Tomasini
George Tomasini (April 20, 1909 – November 22, 1964) was an American film editor, born in Springfield, Massachusetts, who had a decade long collaboration with director Alfred Hitchcock, editing nine of his movies between 1954 and 1964. Tomasin ...
served as production designer and editor.
The outdoor scenes were filmed on location in
Savannah, Georgia;
Stockton, California; and the Universal Studios backlot at
Universal City, California. The indoor scenes were done at Universal Studios Soundstage. Mitchum had a real-life aversion to Savannah, where as a teenager, he had been charged with vagrancy and put on a
chain gang
A chain gang or road gang is a group of prisoners chained together to perform menial or physically challenging work as a form of punishment. Such punishment might include repairing buildings, building roads, or clearing land. The system was not ...
. This resulted in a number of the outdoor scenes being shot at Ladd's Marina in Stockton, including the culminating conflict on the houseboat at the end of the movie.
The scene in which Mitchum attacks Polly Bergen's character on the houseboat was almost completely improvised. Before the scene was filmed, Thompson suddenly told a crew member: "Bring me a dish of eggs!" Mitchum's rubbing the eggs on Bergen was not scripted and Bergen's reactions were real. She also suffered back injuries from being knocked around so much. She felt the impact of the "attack" for days. While filming the scene, Mitchum cut open his hand, leading Bergen to recall: "his hand was covered in blood, my back was covered in blood. We just kept going, caught up in the scene. They came over and physically stopped us."
In the source novel ''
The Executioners'', by
John D. MacDonald
John Dann MacDonald (July 24, 1916December 28, 1986) was an American writer of novels and short stories. He is known for his thrillers.
MacDonald was a prolific author of crime and suspense novels, many set in his adopted home of Florida. On ...
, Cady was a soldier
court-martialed and convicted on then Lieutenant Bowden's testimony for the brutal rape of a 14-year-old girl. The censors stepped in, banned the use of the word "rape", and stated that depicting Cady as a soldier reflected adversely on U.S. military personnel.
Music
Bernard Herrmann
Bernard Herrmann (born Maximillian Herman; June 29, 1911December 24, 1975) was an American composer and conductor best known for his work in composing for films. As a conductor, he championed the music of lesser-known composers. He is widely r ...
, as often in his scores, uses a reduced version of the symphony orchestra. Here, other than a 46-piece string section (slightly larger than usual for film scores), he adds four
flutes (doubling on two
piccolos, two
alto flute
The alto flute is an instrument in the Western concert flute family, the second-highest member below the standard C flute after the uncommon flûte d'amour. It is the third most common member of its family after the standard C flute and the ...
s in G, and two
bass flute
The bass flute is a member of the flute family. It is in the key of C, pitched one octave below the concert flute. Despite its name, its playing range makes it the tenor member of the flute family. Because of the length of its tube (approximate ...
s in C) and eight
French horns. No use is made of further wind instruments or percussion.
In his 2002 book ''A Heart at Fire's Center: The Life and Music of Bernard Herrmann'', Stephen C. Smith writes:
"Yet Herrmann was perfect for ''Cape Fear'' ... Herrmann's score reinforces ''Cape Fear's'' savagery. Mainly a synthesis of past devices, its power comes from their imaginative application and another ingenious orchestration ... a rehearsal for his similar orchestration on Hitchcock's '' Torn Curtain'' in 1966. Like similar 'psychological' Herrmann scores, dissonant string combinations suggest the workings of a killer's mind (most startlingly in a queasy device for cello
The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G2, ...
and bass viol
The viol (), viola da gamba (), or informally gamba, is any one of a family of bowed, fretted, and stringed instruments with hollow wooden bodies and pegboxes where the tension on the strings can be increased or decreased to adjust the pitch ...
s as Cadey prepares to attack the prostitute). Hermann's prelude searingly establishes the dramatic conflict: descending and ascending chromatic voices move slowly towards each other from their opposite registers, finally crossing–just as Boden and Cadey's game of cat-and-mouse will end in deadly confrontation."
Distribution
Although the word "rape" was entirely removed from the script before shooting, the film still enraged the censors, who worried that "there was a continuous threat of sexual assault on a child." To accept the film, British censors required extensive editing and deleting of specific scenes.
After making around 6 minutes of cuts, the film still nearly garnered a British X rating (meaning at the time, "Suitable for those aged 18 and older", not necessarily meaning there was sexually explicit or violent content). Thompson said he had to make 161 cuts; the censor argued it was fifteen main cuts but admitted they took 5 minutes. The censor said this was primarily because the film involved threat of sexual assault against a child.
Home media
''Cape Fear'' was first made available on VHS on March 1, 1992. On May 14, 1992 it was released on laserdisc. It was later re-released on VHS, as well as DVD, on September 18, 2001. The film was released onto
Blu-ray
The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of stori ...
on January 8, 2013. It contains production photos and a "making-of" featurette.
Reception
Critical response
Upon its release, the film received positive but cautious feedback from critics due to the film's content.
Bosley Crowther
Francis Bosley Crowther Jr. (July 13, 1905 – March 7, 1981) was an American journalist, writer, and film critic for ''The New York Times'' for 27 years. His work helped shape the careers of many actors, directors and screenwriters, though his ...
of ''
The New York Times'' praised the "tough, tight script", as well as the film's "steady and starkly sinister style." He went on to conclude his review by saying, "this is really one of those shockers that provokes disgust and regret." The entertainment-
trade magazine ''
Variety'' reviewed the film as "competent and visually polished", while commenting on Mitchum's performance as a "menacing omnipresence."
Legacy
Although it makes no acknowledgement of ''Cape Fear'', the episode "The Force of Evil" from the 1977
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are ...
television series ''
Quinn Martin's Tales of the Unexpected
''Quinn Martins Tales of the Unexpected'' is an American horror and science fiction anthology television series produced by Quinn Martin, and hosted and narrated by William Conrad. It aired from February 2 to August 24, 1977.McNeil, Alex, ''Tot ...
'' uses virtually the same plot, merely introducing an additional supernatural element to the released prisoner.
[John Kenneth Muir's Reflections on Cult Movies and Classic TV: CULT TV FLASHBACK # 54: Quinn Martin's Tales of the Unexpected (1977)](_blank)
/ref>[Muir, John Kenneth, ''Terror Television: American Series 1970-1999'', Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2001.](_blank)
. Not paginated.
The film and its remake serve as the basis for the 1993 ''The Simpsons
''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer Simpson, Homer, Marge ...
'' episode "Cape Feare
"Cape Feare" is the second episode of the fifth season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on October 7, 1993. The episode features guest star Kelsey Grammer ...
" in which Sideshow Bob
Robert Underdunk Terwilliger Jr., PhD, better known as Sideshow Bob, is a recurring character in the animated television series ''The Simpsons''. He is voiced by Kelsey Grammer and first appeared in the episode "The Telltale Head". Bob is a sel ...
, recently released from prison, stalks the Simpson family in an attempt to kill Bart.
In April 2007, '' Newsweek'' selected Cady as one of the 10 best villains in cinema history. Specifically, the scene where Cady attacks Sam's family was ranked number 36 on Bravo's ''100 Scariest Movie Moments
''The 100 Scariest Movie Moments'' is an American television documentary miniseries that aired in late October 2004 on Bravo.(November 2004)Liner Notes ''Starlog'', p. 20 Aired in five 60-minute segments, the miniseries counts down what produce ...
'' in 2004.
A consumer poll on the Internet Movie Database rates ''Cape Fear'' as the 65th-best trial film, although the trial scenes are merely incidental to the plot.
The film is recognized by American Film Institute
The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private funding and public membership fees.
Leade ...
in these lists:
* 2001: AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills – #61
* 2003: AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes & Villains:
** Max Cady
Max Cady is a fictional character and the primary antagonist of the John D. MacDonald novel '' The Executioners''. He was portrayed by Robert Mitchum in '' Cape Fear'' and Robert De Niro in Martin Scorsese's remake.
Character overview
In both ...
– #28 Villain
See also
* List of films featuring home invasions
There is a body of films that feature home invasions. Paula Marantz Cohen says, "Such films reflect an increased fear of the erosion of distinctions between private and public space... These films also reflect a sense that the outside world is mo ...
* List of films featuring surveillance
* Trial movies
Trial films is a subgenre of the legal/courtroom drama that encompasses films that are centered on a civil or criminal trial, typically a trial by jury.Rafter, Nicole. 2001. "American Criminal Trial Films: An Overview of Their Development, 1930� ...
References
Further reading
* Bergman, Paul; Asimow, Michael. (2006) ''Reel justice: the courtroom goes to the movies'' (Kansas City: Andrews and McMeel). ; ; ; .
Machura, Stefan and Robson, Peter, eds. ''Law and Film: Representing Law in Movies'' (Cambridge: Blackwell Publishing, 2001)
Thain, Gerald J., "Cape Fear, Two Versions and Two Visions Separated by Thirty Years." , . 176 pages.
External links
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{{Authority control
1962 films
1960s legal films
1960s psychological thriller films
American black-and-white films
American psychological thriller films
Films scored by Bernard Herrmann
Films about families
American films about revenge
Films about stalking
Films based on American novels
Films based on thriller novels
Films based on works by John D. MacDonald
Films directed by J. Lee Thompson
Films set in Georgia (U.S. state)
Films set in North Carolina
Films shot in California
Films shot in Georgia (U.S. state)
Films shot in Savannah, Georgia
Films set on boats
Home invasions in film
Legal thriller films
Films about rape
Southern Gothic films
Universal Pictures films
American neo-noir films
1960s English-language films
1960s American films